The grand opening announcement says “A new home for an old friend.” The word “home,” though, is an understatement for the new appliances showroom that Sub-Zero and Wolf have created out of the long-vacant Tower Records on Lemmon Avenue, near Oak Lawn Avenue.

The giant, glass wedge that the company added to the now 22,000-square-foot, two-story showroom, which opens April 8, contains state-of-the-art stoves, built-in refrigerators, wine storage, cooking innovations, ventilation systems and ice makers.

“It’s absolutely a place to dream,” says Glenn Giltner, a marketing executive with Sub-Zero and Wolf. “The showroom provides knowledge and information to whomever the end user will be.”

Don’t get the idea, however, that you can swing by and load your pick-up with a 36-inch-wide gas range. There’s no loading dock here. This is a 21st-century sales platform designed to show architects, builders, interior designers and consumers what the company offers. Orders must be placed through authorized dealers.

“The whole idea is to tantalize the customer here,” Giltner says. “It’s easy to show people just about everything we make in our different settings.”

Fantasizing about your dream kitchen is a fairly easy task because of the numerous elaborate vignettes, which will be used for cooking demonstrations. Next week, for example, local celebrity chef Richard Chamberlain (of Chamberlain’s Steak and Chop House and Chamberlain’s Fish Market Grill) and Sub-Zero and Wolf chef Garth Blackburn will cook for a private opening event for the design trade. The center also plans to stage demonstrations and special presentations for the public.

Blackburn is excited about the new facility, its state-of-the-art products, art installations and TV master control room. He will be traveling frequently to Dallas for events from his home base in Houston. “Dallas is near and dear to my heart, and being here to show people how to use everything that we offer makes the ease of cooking feel tangible to people,” he says.

In addition to the cooking demos, the company highlights its evolution on an interactive digital wall. Near this area is a framed collection of historical facts about the building’s Dallas ties. Jack Zeller was an employee of a Safeway that was at this Oak Lawn address in the 1960s. He was photographing the new store’s exterior the day that John F. Kennedy’s motorcade passed by. Quickly, he turned to snap a photograph. The photo, a historical timeline and a map showing the motorcade’s route is presented in one of the cocktail bar vignettes.

To say this place is as futuristic as the animated sitcom The Jetsons is an understatement. The new appliance showroom transcends even George Jetson’s creature comforts. For example, Jetson couldn’t press a button to command a humidor and liquor selections to rise from a flat countertop. And the Jetsons’ outdoor kitchen options looked like those in real-time 1960s.

Jane Jetson had a robot for a maid, but she never had so many custom choices for her kitchen appliances. How do you like your fridge? Built in, integrated or under the counter? Would you prefer your refrigerator have art panel options with museum-like, sculpted designs or textures or vivid, colorful glass? Any of these options, and more, can be arranged here. Bentwood Luxury Kitchens is one of several cabinet makers on site whose products provide real-life ideas for what is possible in that realm.

The showroom’s outdoor kitchen settings overflow with fire pits, lounge areas, massive coolers and TV monitors. This is where top chefs will demonstrate optimal grilling techniques using the company’s product innovations.

Clare Miers is a Dallas freelance writer.

Sub-Zero and Wolf showroom

The Sub-Zero and Wolf website is almost as entertaining as the live showroom, with tips for cooking and kitchen- planning tabs for browsing Sub-Zero and Wolf’s product styles and image galleries.

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